There are many business process outsourcing (BPO) companies offering numerous services and software solutions to help your company manage documents better and automate processes critical to your business. What criteria should you use when selecting a BPO provider? We suggest you evaluate their outsourcing expertise in three key areas: experience, training and support.
1. Why Expertise is Important When Choosing a BPO Partner
A company with extensive experience in outsourcing will begin working with you by listening closely and understanding your business processes and goals. They will gain an understanding of the entire picture before recommending specific business software and technologies to solve your business problems.
You also want to make sure that your BPO partner has an implementation team that is trained and certified on the technologies they recommend. They should be recognized as leading partners by the companies whose software they are reselling— awarded for excellence in customer service and technical support, a top worldwide software reseller and a member of an inner circle of resellers that provide market insight to the software company. You don’t want your implementation being the first one they perform.
For example, automating invoice processing is a common application of document management and workflow automation software. Your provider should be familiar with how invoice processing works, how technology can be used to accelerate the process and how software integrations between the solution and common accounting applications including:
- ADP
- Financial Edge
- IQMS
- Lawson
- Microsoft Dynamics
- NetSuite
- Oracle/PeopleSoft
- QuickBooks
- Sage
- SAP
- Workday
2. Employee Training is Key to Successfully Implement Business Software
Once configured, the second criteria for ensuring the success of an automated or document management system lies in effective user and administrator training. Our experience shows that a solid employee training program is integral to ensuring user acceptance and usage. What good is implementing document management or workflow automation software if no one is going to use it, or use it incorrectly?
Training can be delivered on-site or remotely via the web, and it is critical that both users and administrators are trained. For users, training includes basic business operations such as user log in, password setting and how to access files, as well as more advanced features, including how to scan documents and add them to projects, how to complete assigned work and an explanation of workflow actions. Administrator training includes modifying information security settings, managing users, reporting, and even configuration modifications.
3. Resolve Software Issues with Tech Support
Ongoing support for new technology or business software can revolve around how to use new features, how to add new projects, or a problem someone is encountering. A BPO company’s tech support team can quickly and accurately help you diagnose issues, provide assistance for questions and help you expand the software solution to different departments. In many cases, these support activities include additional training, which should be delivered by the BPO partner on an as-needed basis.
Ask Your BPO Partner for Specifics on their Background
When choosing a business process outsourcing partner, don’t be afraid to ask questions about their experience, training and support. Qualified BPO companies will welcome those questions and be able to answer them with solid examples of their experience and expertise with implementing new document management and business automation software. A strong BPO partner will create a trusted relationship with you and help you meet your business goals, improve operational efficiency and lower costs across multiple departments. Remember to use these three criteria as a measuring stick for selecting your BPO partner and you’ll have taken the first step towards a successful and painless digital transformation.
With over 30 years of experience, MetaSource is a global leader in digital transformation and an experienced BPO partner. As a SOC 2 Type 2 certified and HIPAA compliant company, it’s processes are audited annually by a third party, ensuring service quality and document security.